• Changqing Cao, Jinghua Wang, Yuning Li, Yumei Li, Liyan Ma, Mohamed E A Abdelrahim, and Yi Zhu.
• Department of Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, P.R. China.
• Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 May 1; 75 (5): e13981.

IntroductionThe OM-85 (Broncho-Vaxom) consumption has drawn considerable attention in the prevention of recurrent respiratory tract infections. However, it has been reported that the relationship between OM-85 consumption and recurrent respiratory tract infections is variable. This meta-analysis was performed to evaluate this relationship.MethodsA systematic literature search up-to May 2020 was performed and 14 studies were detected with 1859 paediatric subjects, of them 890 consumed OM-85. They were reporting relationships between OM-85 consumption and recurrent respiratory tract infections. Odds ratio (OR) or mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated to evaluate the prognostic role of OM-85 consumption and recurrent respiratory tract infections using the dichotomous or continuous method with a random or fixed-effect model.ResultsOM-85 consumption was significantly related to lower frequency of respiratory tract infections (MD, -1.16; 95% CI, -1.66 to -0.65, P < .001); lower total duration of respiratory tract infections (MD, -19.51; 95% CI, -23.00 to -16.01, P < .001); lower incidence of respiratory tract infections (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.21-0.77, P = .006); lower number of antibiotic courses (MD, -1.40; 95% CI, -2.63 to 0.17, P = .03); and lower antibiotic use (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.29-0.52, P < .001). However, OM-85 consumption was not significantly related to adverse event rate (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.52-2.03, P = .94); or to wheezing attacks frequency (MD, -0.25; 95% CI, -0.59 to 0.08, P = .14).ConclusionsThe impact of OM-85 consumption on recurrent respiratory tract infections may have a great effect as a tool to improve subjects' immunity against recurrent respiratory tract infections, which could be helpful in crucial situations, eg, COVID-19 pandemic. OM-85 non-consumers had an independent risk relationship with recurrent respiratory tract infections. This relationship forces us to recommend OM-85 consumption with those with a high risk of recurrent respiratory tract infections to avoid any possible complications.© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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